Football

Four Engineers Receive NEFC Postseason Awards

Nov 17, 2009

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The MIT football team
collected six honors from the New England Football Conference
(NEFC) this week. For the second year in a row, senior running back
DeRon Brown was named the Boyd Division Offensive Player of the
Year while defensive lineman Alex Rubino was the recipient of the
Hal Chalmers Award which goes to the senior scholar-athlete of the
year.

Joining Brown on the Boyd Division First Team were Brian Doyle at
defensive back and Peter Gilliland at linebacker. In back-to-back
seasons, Rubino represented the Engineers on the Second Team.

Brown led the NEFC in all purpose yards (166.4) and finished second
in rushing (151.4). He closed his career as MIT’s all-time
leader in rushing yards (4,141) and rushing touchdowns (38). Last
year, Brown set the Institute standards for rushing yards in a
season (1,816), rushing yards per game (181.6), and rushing
touchdowns (22). In addition to his pair of Offensive Player of the
Year and Boyd Division First-Team accolades, he was named to the
Boyd Division Second Team in 2007.

Rubino was MIT’s fifth winner of the Hal Chalmers Award was
the second straight defensive lineman to earn this honor as David
Nackoul ’09 received plaudits for the Engineers. Rubino led
the Cardinal and Gray in tackles for loss, notching 12 tackles that
yielded 37 yards. He finished the season with 43 tackles, one sack,
one interception, one fumble recovery, and one forced fumble.

Doyle collected his first conference accolade after tying for fifth
in the league in interceptions and ranking among the top 10 in punt
and kick returns. Gilliland, another first-time honoree, paced the
NEFC in tackles, amassing 117 and an average of 13 per game.